Train ticket mark-up puts Sydney Airport workers in danger

Young workers at Sydney Airport are cutting across dangerous roads to walk to the next suburb to avoid paying the high cost of an airport train ticket home, employers have complained to the NSW government.

The fee levied by the private rail operator inflates a ticket to Central Station from $3.60 to $15.90 and is costing airport staff an extra $1000 a year to commute to work, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

The rail operator, Airport Link, claims air travellers are wealthy and ''not price sensitive''. But 28,000 airport workers, who mostly live in the local area, cannot afford what is often a 400 per cent mark-up on train travel, Sydney Airport Corporation says.

The City of Sydney, the Sydney Business Chamber, Botany Bay council and the airport corporation are arguing that the station access fee should be dropped because it distorts transport choices and is impacting on Sydney's economy by driving tens of thousands of airport passengers and staff on to heavily congested roads each day.

Airport Link has projected that dropping the fee would increase passengers on the rail line by 1.28 million to 2.56 million a year and remove 1 million car journeys from surrounding roads.

But the catch for the NSW government is that it would forgo a half share of $65 million in annual revenue if the fee is dropped, or it would need to spend an estimated $276 million to buy out Airport Link.

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Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said: ''It is not current policy to remove the station access fee. Revenue from the station access fee is included in the budget forward estimates.''

The private rail was opened in 2000 for the Olympics and the company signed a contract with the Labor government that also prohibits more than one public bus route to the airport. The result is that only 17 per cent of airport passengers use public transport.

The Sydney Business Chamber's executive director, Patricia Forsythe, wants the train fee dropped but she said if the NSW government was unwilling to give up the revenue, then at least airport employees should be exempted.

DHL employs 210 staff at three sites around the airport, half aged under 25. The company is concerned about the impact on employee safety.

Many lower-paid data entry and warehouse staff do not have cars and are walking to Mascot station rather than using the airport station, which is two minutes away.

Female staff are refusing to accept evening or afternoon shifts because they are concerned about walking at night. DHL told the inquiry the prohibitive cost of public transport at Sydney Airport was a ''significant challenge'' to attracting and keeping staff.

Bradley Elms, 21, works the late shift at DHL at Sydney Airport but won't use the airport station that is two minutes away from his workplace. ''I walk to Mascot station every day. I don't want to pay an extra $10 per trip,'' he said.

The company is concerned about employee safety as workers avoid the high cost of the two airport train stations operated by private company Airport Link.

''There are lots of sets of lights to cross and multi-lane highways. I see people jaywalking - that is partially because they are walking from the station to work,'' said Mr Elms, who is in his first job.

Another DHL worker, Kothar Chahine, 24, uses the airport station and is upset at the extra $47 that is taken out of her weekly pay by the station access fee.

''It's my first job. I don't have a car. You'd think there would be a staff discount for the train. Parking is so expensive as well,'' she says.

''Going to Mascot station is cheaper but it is a 10-minute walk, crossing so many roads. It's not safe late at night if you do overtime, especially in winter when it gets dark earlier. I did it once - I felt uncomfortable.''

Ms Chahine lives close to the airport in Arncliffe. The short distance she travels adds to her frustration about the expense.